- The GSA is partnering with Elon Musk's xAI to make Grok AI models available to federal agencies for 18 months at 42 cents per user.
- After a public falling out after Musk stepped down from the Department of Government Efficiency, signs of reconciliation between Musk and Donald Trump have appeared.
- xAI joins other AI providers in offering government-sponsored models, with the company committing engineers to help agencies implement these tools into their workflows.
The federal government’s General Services Administration is partnering with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s company xAI, making Grok AI models the sponsored artificial intelligence for all agencies.
The partnership will stand for 18 months and will include access to Grok 4 and Grok 4 Fast.
xAI also announced it will commit AI engineers to assist federal agencies with “rapidly and effectively implementing these AI tools into their workstreams,” per the GSA.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the price tag — just 42 cents — is a nod by Musk to the sci-fi novel, “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
OpenAI and Anthropic are charging the government $1, while Google’s price is 47 cents, the Journal said, as all of the companies aim to gain a foothold in federal agencies.
Is the Trump-Musk relationship healed?
When President Donald Trump took office at the end of January, he recruited Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency and tasked him with eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
Musk quickly became a political target, his companies’ stocks began to plummet and when congressmen failed to codify his spending cuts in the “Big, Beautiful Bill” for the coming fiscal year, tension between Musk and the president came to a head.
Just a few days after being honorably released from his special government position, Musk called for the firing of every politician that voted for the massive tax bill.
Trump and Musk sparred with each other from their respective social media platforms, Trump posting on Truth Social that Musk was on drugs and “wearing thin,” and Musk firing back on X that the president was in the Epstein files (that post has since been deleted).
After the blow-up and many sad posts from their friends — including from Utah Sen. Mike Lee — asking them to reconcile, there was radio silence online between the two for several months.
But if efficiency is still Musk’s goal for America, it appears as though being Washington’s AI bot of choice will continue to push the needle forward for American tech competition.
In the GSA’s press release, Musk said, “We look forward to continuing to work with President Trump and his team to rapidly deploy A.I. throughout the government for the benefit of the country.”
Musk and Trump were seen together at Charlie Kirk’s memorial
At conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s memorial last Sunday, Musk and Trump were spotted sitting together in a stadium box, chatting calmly.
On Air Force One headed back to Washington, D.C., from the funeral, Trump commented on his appearance with Musk.
“I thought it was nice,” Trump said. “You know, he came over, we had a little conversation. We had a very good relationship, but it was nice that he came over. Dana White was there, the great Dana White ... .”
It is unclear where their relationship goes from here.